Get beneath the surface – The IJT Blog

Recently, there has been increasing criticism about the number of visitors to Mt. Fuji and the environmental impacts that tourism has had on Japan’s most scared mountain. The following article was written in response to these critiques.

Over the past 6 years, working as a Tour Leader, I have taken hundreds of tourists from all over the world to the far corners of Japan. To steaming hot springs in Shikoku, meandering back streets in Nagasaki, and geisha filled teahouses of Kyoto. But I have yet to find a destination that fills people with more awe, more respect for nature, and an overall closeness to Japan and the Japanese people than a trek to the sacred peak of Mt. Fuji.

Many may find it hard to understand why so many people make this gruelling trek up crowded hillsides in the freezing cold through thin air only to wait for a sunrise that may or may not penetrate the dense clouds that stick to Mt. Fuji throughout much of the year. Fortunately, the Japanese have no such difficulty. For them, climbing Mt. Fuji is a pilgrimage up sacred slopes to the symbolic heart of their homeland. The Japanese will be the first to tell you that there is much more to climbing Mt. Fuji than simply reaching the peak. On this sacred volcano it is the journey and not merely the destination that make this a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

A recent group of brave souls who made it to the top of Mount Fuji

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At lunchtime in central Unzen, three Japanese ladies standing outside their restaurants were competing for my custom. The restaurants looked ordinary, and with the greatest respect, so did the ladies. But in Unzen, a 90 minute bus ride from Nagasaki, I was reminded that the ordinary has hidden charms. In an ordinary looking shokudo (diner), served up by an ordinary looking waitress, I discovered the extraordinary Turko Rice.

Turko Rice is a meibutsu (a famous dish) of the Nagasaki region. A vital ingredient, as the counter-intuitive will already have guessed, is a pile of spaghetti. A fried pork cutlet on a bed of rice, salad and HP sauce fill the rest of the dish. I was in heaven, three meals in one sitting, on one plate. My childhood dream had come true.

Turko rice - the fulfilment of a childhood dream.

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When on tour, I often get questioned about my apartment and the housing condition in Japan. ‘Capsule hotels‘ and ‘Manga Cafés‘ have led westerners to believe that the Japanese live in shoe boxes. While it is true that, on the same income, Japanese workers settle for less space than their fellow westerners, decent living standards is still affordable. With this in mind, if you ever invite your Japanese friends over, please make them feel at home:

Like most Japanese, my wife and I went through a local real estate agency to seek for help on our quest for a love nest. At first, odd features endemic to Japanese houses lead me astray. For example, tatami mats are now seldom found in modern buildings; yet they are still commonly used as unit of measurement. So how big is a 3×6 tatami mats apartment? Hard to say when the size of a mat depends on the region you live in!

Mister Tanaka wears a tokyo-size 2 tatami mat tie.

Eventually, finding a place you enjoy living in is no different over here: it’s a very, very tedious task. Already accustomed to the country’s overall taste for efficiency, I was shocked when I realised how incompetent brokers are in Japan. The fundamental part of their job is to draw the floor plans but even this seems to be arduous work. There even is a book compiling all those plans made by staff half asleep from agencies around the country: ‘hen na madori‘.

Central Tokyo. Charming studio with entrance in the loo and no access to the room.

Imagine a windowless 20 storey tower block packed with pubs the size of your living room all dimly lit and all open for business every night of the week until the early hours.  Imagine your favourite pub with your own personal cheery barmaid who is keen to engage in flirtatious small talk over a shared drink at the end of a long day at work.  A pub that doesn’t have a menu or a pricelist but has unlimited peanuts, crisps and individually wrapped chocolates on the bar and hot towels whenever you return from the toilet.  A pub with with a long list of karaoke classics with barmaids that encourage you to informally sing at the bar  ….  welcome to the underground world of Japanese snack bars. Read more »

I know, I know; you are thinking about taking that trip to Japan, but are not quite 100% convinced it is the place for you. Sure there is the best sushi on the planet, the safest and cleanest travel environment on earth, some of the best sights to be seen anywhere, both ancient and modern, but there is just something missing…one last piece of the jigsaw I can’t quite put my finger on…

Something to go with those in-flight peanuts...

Draught beer on flights to Japan you say? That’s it; where do I sign?!

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/07/15/2010-07-15_japans_ana_becomes_first_airline_to_offer_draft_beer_inflight.html